Xbox president says Game Pass is profitable and good for creators, despite alleged division over the subscription model

Xbox president Sarah Bond has said that Xbox Game Pass is profitable and good for creators after having its best year in terms of revenue in the previous fiscal year.

Xbox Game Pass is just over eight years old this year, and it's constantly been a point of discussion among Xbox users. While a lot of people obviously love having a library of games at a moment's notice through a subscription, the decision to release all Xbox Game Studios games to the platform on day one has caused mixed reactions, with some feeling it devalues Microsoft's games, and as game development costs go up, it makes that point even more pertinent.

Microsoft has also been taking steps outside of its comfort zone in recent years, with Xbox game streaming available on almost everything (like a car, for example), and publishing once-exclusive games onto rival consoles.

During an interview at Tokyo Game Show 2025 with Game Watch (via machine translation), Xbox president Sarah Bond was asked about how viable Xbox Game Pass is as a business, with the interviewer citing the price alongside the increasing number of titles. Bond responded that in the last fiscal year, Xbox Game Pass took in $5 billion in revenue, saying that "It's a profitable business, and as more creators join Xbox Game Pass, payments to creators increase, so we think it's a good business for creators."

Of course, that $5 billion number does not seem to be taking into account the price of game development, and the cost of Xbox Game Studios games releasing onto Xbox Game Pass on day one. However, Bond referred to the service as "profitable" so presumably the gains are enough to offset this cost.

Former Xbox exec says Game Pass causes "weird inner tensions" due to the subscription model usually coming at "the expense of retail revenue"